Firaxis has just made a cameo during Gamescom Opening Live 2024 to give us all a first look at the gameplay of Civilization 7 via a fresh trailer and offer a concrete release date of February 11, 2025.

We knew this trailer would be coming, as the studio and publisher 2K said as much in advance after announcing the game at Summer Game Fest, just to make sure no one missed out on getting to gasp in awe at little folks from history moving about on a map, likely as a real life friendships implode based on who’s sacking whose city.

Ed Beach of Firaxis Games took to the stage to talk introduce our first look at Civilization 7, as well as sharing that this is the “biggest, most ambitious game Firaxis has ever made.”

Enjoy that? Well, once Opening Night Live’s over, Firaxis is hosting a Civ 7 gameplay showcase on its Twitch channel, which you can catch at 9:30 PM BST, that’s 4:30 PM ET, 1:30 PM PT, and 10:30 PM CEST. “For more than 20 minutes, we’ll be sharing exclusive insights from the development team about this revolutionary new chapter in the franchise, including our vision for the game as well as its innovative new features,” the studio writes regarding what to expect from that showcase.

One thing we can also tell you about Civilzation 7 is that it won’t be making use of 2K’s launcher on PC, saving you a bit of faffing, and letting you launch straight into trying to weasel your way to a culture victory despite the fact you’re playing as Julius Caesar and started out with the goal of blasting everyone to bits.

Let us know below if you liked what you saw of Civ 7 in this latest trailer below, and make sure to check out the rest of our coverage of all the big reveals from Gamescom 2024.